Ireland will have two credible contenders for medals in the European Indoor Championships here in Ghent after James Nolan and Mark Carroll yesterday produced performances of contrasting merit to reach the finals.

Nolan escaped the consequences of some blatantly uneven running to reach today's final of the 1,500 metres in a manner which played on the nerves of his supporters in the new Flanders Sports Arena.

But Mark Carroll's fans were never made to endure the same torment as the Cork man, economic with every stride, ran a near perfect tactical race to finish second to the impressive Belgian Mohammed Mourhit in seven minutes 54.56 seconds in the second semi-final of the 3,000 metres.

Together with defending champion John Mayock and Spaniard Andres Diaz, Carroll and Mourhit got away from the pack at the half-way stage, and from a long way out they were certain to qualify.

Carroll took turns alternating in the lead with Mourhit, but the Belgian sprinted clear with 600 metres to go to win by less than a second, 7:54.08. Afterwards, Carroll had no doubts that Mourhit is the man to beat in tomorrow's final.

"He's been training at altitude in Morocco," said the Irishman. "He's not going to hang about in Sunday's final - he'll go out to run the legs off the 1,500 metres men, and that will suit me fine.

"In the right kind of race I believe I'm capable of running close to 7:36. He knows what he has to do in the final and I certainly know what I've to do. It should be a great race."

Nolan was sparing nobody, least of all himself, after being all over the place in qualifying in third place in the second heat of the 1,500 metres. The time of 3:41.90 was modest enough, but judged on the amount of work he had to put in, it should have been appreciably closer to his career best figures of 3:37.90.

"I came here to win a medal, but I'm going to have to get my head together between now and the final," he said. "I moved up and down the race so often that it wasn't funny, but I can hardly run like that again."

In a race which never developed any fluency, Nolan was not the only one to suffer in the traffic which built up at different stages of the journey. It was overall a tactician's nightmare, but at one point the Irishman threatened to impose some order when he moved to the shoulders of the leaders.

Then, just as quickly, he started to fade again, and when he arrived at the bell in fourth place behind Medhi Baala (France), Vycheslav Shabunin (Russia) and Marko Koers (Holland), it was all toil and tribulation from there to the finish. Eventually, he hauled himself clear of Koers to grab the last of the three automatic qualifying places, but the look on his face told the real story. It had all been too close for comfort.

Ireland's other 1,500 metres representative, Gareth Turnbull, fared even worse, finishing sixth of nine in the first semi-final. His time of 3:42.97 was a personal best, but it still left him some way adrift of the championship favourite, Jose Redolat of Spain.

It was a different story in the women's 1,500, in which Sinead Delahunty, back to something like her best form, was fairly emphatic in qualifying for today's final.

After bolting to the front with 600 metres to go, the Kilkenny woman looked likely to win the second semi-final with something to spare. Inevitably, perhaps, she was reined in by the Russian Yulia Kosenkova, the fastest in the field, who went on to win in 4:13.28.

Delahunty, vasty improved from the form she showed at Nenagh recently, was timed at 4:13.94, and now feels she is running well enough to get close to an Olympic qualifying time of 4:08.4 in the final.

Karen Shinkins is through to today's semi-finals of the 400 metres with every prospect of improving on the national record of 52.85 she set at Athens earlier in the month.

This is her third major championship and the experience acquired along the way showed as she avoided some early turbulence in the second of three heats to finish third to Helena Fuchsova of the Czech Republic and Irina Rosikhana in 53.20.

One was left with the impression that she had more to give, had it been required over the last 150 metres, and it encourages the hope that she can get below 52.80 in the semi-finals.

One athlete who had the satisfaction of achieving a national record not just once but twice yesterday was Ciara Sheehy in the 200 metres. Sheehy may have surprised even herself by surviving the first round in a career-best time of 23.93, and she then proceeded to trim that figure by a hundredth of a second in finishing fourth in the semi-final after the winner, Nora G'unar of Turkey, had been disqualified. All in all, then, a gratifying day for the young Dubliner.